Phillies Name Bowa Manager

PHILADELPHIA (AP) â€” Former Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Larry Bowa has been hired as the team's manager. <br><br>The Phillies will hold a news conference to announce the hiring at noon EST Wednesday,

Wednesday, November 1st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PHILADELPHIA (AP) â€” Former Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Larry Bowa has been hired as the team's manager.

The Phillies will hold a news conference to announce the hiring at noon EST Wednesday, team spokesman Larry Shenk said.

Bowa, a third-base coach with Seattle last season, replaces Terry Francona, fired on Oct. 1. Bowa gets a second chance at managing 12 years after compiling an 81-127 record with the San Diego Padres.

Philadelphia general manager Ed Wade interviewed nine candidates, including former Phillies catchers Bob Boone and Darren Daulton. Boone, who managed Kansas City for three seasons, played with Bowa on the 1980 Phillies team that won the franchise's only World Series title.

Daulton was a serious candidate even though he had no managerial or coaching experience.

Bowa, 54, is a fan favorite with deep ties to the organization. He was Philadelphia's third-base coach from 1988-96, but his relationship with the Phillies then deteriorated.

Bowa criticized team management last spring, then skipped a celebration honoring the 1980 club because of a long-running feud with former team president and current chairman Bill Giles.

Wade said last week that he addressed those issues during his interview with Bowa, and felt comfortable that everything was cleared up.

Bowa played 16 seasons in the major leagues and was one of the game's premier shortstops in the 1970s, when he was a five-time All-Star with the Phillies.

He is known as a fierce competitor with a fiery personality that sometimes got him in trouble as a young manager with the Padres.

Before joining Seattle last year, Bowa coached with the Anaheim Angels for three years.

Francona was fired after posting his fourth straight losing season. The Phillies finished tied with the Chicago Cubs for the worst record in baseball at 65-97.

Among the other candidates to interview for the Phillies job were Lloyd McClendon, hired as Pittsburgh's manager last week, Yankees third-base coach Willie Randolph and John Vukovich, the third-base coach under Francona.